Deeply Wounded
by CrypticMoonFang
Summary: A demon repeatedly hospitalizes Jeanne, giving her no time to recover before his next attack. His intention: to weaken Jeanne far beyond measure before dealing the final blow. The way things are going now, this may just be the one fight she can't win.
1. Chapter 1

**~NOTE~**

Maron DOESN'T know that Chiaki is Kaitou Sinbad yet. Fin has left to become a Full Angel. Miyako is still trying to catch Kaitou Jeanne, who's identity she still can't figure out. Maron and Chiaki are in love. Chiaki DOES know that Maron is Kaitou Jeanne. This story MAY contain graphic content, and that is why it's rated T. MAY contain spoilers from the anime series, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. Readers, you have been warned!

-Chapter 1-

Maron just got through sending a notice to Inchou. Poor guy... This was the third time he'd been possessed by a demon! This time the demon was lurking in a precious heirloom. The heirloom was obviously beautiful, otherwise the demon wouldn't be hiding inside it. It was a priceless item known as the "Jewelers' Globe". It was named that because it was basically a globe that was made of pure gold and had many various jewels, such as diamonds, quartz, crystals, and rhinestones encrusting it. It was way beyond valuable, and the police were sure to make their security extra tight. Miyako would no doubt have a trap lying in wait. Although she was always wary of Miyako's traps, she always laughed at them. Especially the way Miyako called them "Miyako Specials!" part whatever. Maron had learned to respect her traps, however, due to an incident where one of Miyako's traps included a water gun with ink in it. Her cheek had been shot with the red ink and it wouldn't come off for three days, no matter what she did. In the end, she'd just barely gotten by with that one.

It was time to seal the demon. "Jeanne d'Arc, lend me your powers!" Maron held the rosary that allowed her transformation up to her heart. She went through the entire transformation sequence, and jumped off the balcony to her apartment residence. When she hit the ground, she thought she heard something snap, but didn't pay too much mind to it. Off to seal the demon!

Access lay there, crushed and broken. He never had any luck with girls, and now he just got smashed by one. Literally. He used the last of what was left of his fading strength to fly up to Chiaki's residence, which was right next to Maron's, and alerted him of the demon's appearance. For some reason, Access still wanted Sinbad to seal the demons, not Jeanne. Chiaki was, in moments, transformed into the well-known Kaitou Sinbad.

Kaitou Jeanne got to the scene just in time to avoid an awaiting officer's prying eyes. She silently leapt into a tree and took in the sight before her. Just as she'd suspected, there were many guards posted all over the place. Security was indeed very tight, and there were so many officers posted that she was starting to lose a bit of faith in herself. But then there was another thing. Jeanne couldn't see a single trap that Miyako had set out. Could she and her father be waiting for her inside the building with a trap? Right now, though, her goal was to get past the armed guards protecting the demon. _I just don't get it... _she thought, _Why does the object the demon is hiding in have to disappear?! My work would be made so much easier if the item stayed put._

She unintentionally grumbled something to herself. That, in turn, caught a guard's attention. He peered up in the tree to find a half-hidden, half-shadowed Kaitou Jeanne looking ahead, contemplating a plan for getting past everyone. "J-J-J-JEANNE!!!" he screamed. Oh, how Jeanne hated when newbies joined the police force... They were so scared of her! And they screamed like idiots who didn't know enough to know that not _once_ did she ever hurt anyone. Anyways, now wasn't the right time to be thinking about those kinds of things. Right now she had to act fast and think later. There were several police officers who were charging at her from almost every angle.

She was quick to look up and see a lamp post. It had a longish rod sticking out of it and it was at just the right angle to where she could use her ribbon-esque weapon to pull herself onto it, ultimately dodging the police and moving on to more. But there was a problem... Kaitou Sinbad was on the lamp end of it, which was the widest end. He was the one thing that blocked her path.

Another set of alert policemen shouted his arrival. They looked up to see the same sight Jeanne saw. Sensing this, he quickly jumped down and threw a three-sided ninja-like boomerang. It had especially sharp blades, making it deadly and formidable. Everyone who wanted to live stayed away from it. And when he threw it, everyone who was anyone jumped back, for fear of being sliced in half overcame their orders to capture him. Therefore, it acted as a shield as well.

One of the fallen cops just watched Jeanne effortlessly leap onto the lamp post Sinbad had previously been on. "Somebody tell me again why she'd want a globe!" he yelled in frustration. Another guy heard him and yelled back, "I dunno! Maybe she just likes the jewels!"

Jeanne's next move was to get to the building. How, though? Sinbad eventually got to knock down every cop standing in their way. He looked up at her, only to find her gone. He grunted to himself secretly.

Jeanne, now inside the building, grew extremely wary. Something was different in the building... She couldn't identify what it was, but something was very, _very _different. She also noted the distinctive silence in the area and the surrounding area. It was so silent, she could've sworn she could hear her own thoughts! And there was that feeling inside of her that she shouldn't be here. Trying to ignore that dreadful feeling, she proceeded further into the builing, following the direction her Petite Claire directed her.

All of a sudden, a spiked tentacle came flying at her. She dodged it, but just barely. Though it hadn't broken skin, she'd recieved a small scratch that soon turned redish. The demon had just shown itself. Well, not so much itself as its limb. But it'd gone by so fast she hadn't gotten a chance to get a good look at it, nor tell which direction it had come from. Jeanne knew it was around there somewhere. There were four hallways and it was dark, making it impossible to see. She started toward the left hallway. The Petite Claire wasn't getting more frequent with its beeping, so she backed away from that hall. She headed toward the one on the right and felt a bump under her foot. She immediately looked up just in time to see a net fall on her, entangling her in its tresses. She reached for her weapon, which was in the shape of a rythmatic gymnastics ribbon. It had flown out of her reach.

A laugh was heard. "Miyako Special!!! Part 43!" Miyako said. She emerged from wherever she was hiding and admired her handiwork. "Well, well, Jeanne! Why aren't trying to get out?" She smiled.

The ropes sliced in half, causing both Miyako and Jeanne to scream. Miyako couldn't see it, but the demon had just appeared. It wrapped a slithery tentacle around Jeanne and lifted her into the air, tightening its grip as it did so. It was squeezing her lungs, making it increasingly difficult to breathe. It laughed evilly and teleported to a nearby park.

Miyako didn't know what was what and who was who. For all she knew, Jeanne had just levitated into the air for no apparent reason. Then she'd disappeared into nobody knew where! And now she didn't know what to think... Some kind of trick? Perhaps she had ropes? But how would that explain the disappearance?

Sinbad turned up right at the wrong time. He barged into the building by blowing up a wall. All he saw was Miyako sitting on the floor, looking like she'd seen a ghost. "What happened? Where's Jeanne?" he asked her.

"J-J-J-Jeanne...floating...vanished..." was Miyako's unsure reply.

Sinbad raswed an eyebrow in sheer confusion. "Floating? Vanished?" He quickly came to the solution that the demon had something to do with this. He thought of the demon. To lift Jeanne, it had to be bigger than her. But for her to vanish? Maybe the demon could teleport. There was only one problem standing in his way of rescuing Kaitou Jeanne. Where was the demon? And moreso, where was _Jeanne_?


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

Kaitou Jeanne was thrown to the ground. But now she was finally able to breathe again, being as she was free from the grasp of the tentacle that had grabbed her. She had a big, long bruise stretching across her chest, sides, and back. She slowly looked up to find herself face to face with the demon.

"My name is Yanuzui and I've come to fulfill my role in this place. After you die, I will return to the underworld and to the Devil." the demon spoke.

"What do you want with me? You surely would've finished me off when you had the chance." Jeanne replied.

"What do I want? Is it not obvious to you?" Yanuzui retorted, "I want you to suffer just like I have. Living in the underworld, which is burning in flames! It's torture! So now I want you to feel the pain I have felt in that pit of horror."

When Jeanne gave him a confused look, he explained, "You didn't honestly think we _liked_ that place, did you?!"

The demon was clearly visible as he stepped out of the shadows. He had three jagged and spiked tails, each with a sharp blade at the end of them. On the blades were barbs of various sizes. And his whole body was covered in tiny but sharp navy blue scales. He had fangs for teeth and they were long, looking intimidating and scary. They looked like they could inflict life-threatening and painful, deep injuries. His fingers weren't direct weapons, but rather tentacles instead. Probably one of the tentacles that had grabbed her. There were several on each hand, and he had four hands total, each with ten finger-tentacles. On top of his head were seven horns, each nicely arranged with one huge horn in the middle and three horns lined up on each side of the big one. Lining his jawline were spines jutting out. His feet were much like a dragon's. He stood on two legs and walked almost like a human would. He truly looked both fearsome and tough. Most likely not something to be taken lightly.

"Are you ready to die, Jeanne?" he chanted at her.

"I won't lose!" she answered. Her answer pretty much sealed her fate.

He laughed a gravelly laugh and pulled back his upper right arm, getting ready to strike. Jeanne quickly moved as the slender tentacle came flying at her. He tried several times, and each time she moved. He laughed again, knowing he had her cornered. He drove all four hands into the ground and all of his tentacles came shooting up out of the ground several feet away from him, right in front of Jeanne. She prepared for the inevitable pain by closing her eyes, but after a few moments of nothingness, she cautiously opened one eye. The tentacles were being held off by none other other than Kaitou Sinbad himself. He was using alot of energy, and it looked hard to do, but somehow he managed to keep them at bay. She heard him say something, but was too shocked to comprehend it.

_She's not running. Why isn't she running?!_ Sinbad thought while slicing off the tip of one of the demon's tentacles. The thing just regenerated. Jeanne was just sitting there, not knowing what exactly was going on. Plus, she was feeling this extremely uncomfortable pain in one of her lungs. It felt as though she was breathing in knives instead of air. She clutched her sides, knowing that if she got up, the pain would grow dramatically. And worse still, her weapon was somewhere in the building she'd been trying to break into.

Sinbad suddenly felt a stabbing pain shoot through his stomach, stretching all the way to his back. He looked down only to find that he'd gotten distracted and the demon had pierced through his abdomen with one of its tentacles, using them like spears.

The demon laughed evilly and turned its attention back to Jeanne. "Your turn, Jeanne!" he teased. His smile was aweful as he brought a tentacle down on her. She moved away just in time to hear a snapping sound. The tentacle hadn't totally missed her; it'd hit her finger and crushed it, breaking both bone and flesh. She shrieked in pain and held her finger close to her. Yanuzui laughed again, this time in pleasure. He straightened a tentacle and jabbed it at Jeanne. She rolled over and it just barely missed. Another tentacle thrust her into the air. The demon watched as she helplessly fell to the ground.

The battle went on with him attacking and her dodging for several minutes, until the demon had finally had enough playtime. He grabbed for her, causing her once more to dodge, but in the wrong direction. He only needed a second to draw up his hand out of the ground and slash her, using his tentacles like claws. She covered the area right above her stomach. He'd hit her ribcage. She had no idea of whether any ribs were broken or not, but there was no time to think or complain. Right now the only thought on her mind was: run. But where to? There was nowhere to hide _or_ run! Jeanne only had enough time to glance at the demon before he drove his hands into the ground again. Bad. Now she couldn't tell where the tentacles would come out at.

The demon grabbed her ankle with two tentacles, one above and one underneath, and twisted it until it snapped. She screamed. Now she couldn't walk. Yanuzui looked over at an unconscious Sinbad and teleported. Since he hadn't let go of Jeanne yet, she teleported too.

Sinbad woke up. How long was he out? The police and an ambulance surrounded him. He felt himself being lifted onto a gernie. "W-Wait." he said weakly, "Jeanne... Jeanne is in trouble." The police listened carefully and nodded. Most of the police cars drove off, but a few still remained. He _was_ a Kaitou, after all. "Where is Jeanne at?" Miyako asked. Sinbad looked at her sadly, "I don't know. But she had a broken finger and I don't think that's anywhere near the worst of what's to come." The ambulance drove away with Sinbad.

Jeanne, on the other hand, was in Minazuki Park. The police weren't there, and she had no such comfort as an ambulance. She had no defense, like a weapon. She was utterly alone. She heard a familiar laugh and felt a burning, lasting pain. Yanuzui had bored a hole right through her body, the area under her belly button. Four thorny tentacles came up out of the ground and grabbed each of her limbs. She struggled to escape, and it worked. But not without a price. The flesh on each limb had been torn, or rather, shredded. There was blood all over her now. The gash left on her belly was finally starting to weaken her.

Yanuzui used a barbed tentacle to try to finish her off once and for all. She saw it coming and scrambled to get out of the way. She tripped and fell. Yanuzui watched with delight as she got up, obviously in severe pain, as though nothing had happened. Did he even hit her at all? She turned around, revealing the answer. Her right eye had been the one to take all the damage. The barbs had sliced through her eye, revealing a small but long, slim, painful, and damaging cut. It went right through her pupil and was slanted. It was also jagged. Her cornea and iris had also been caught by the barbed tentacle. She covered her badly injured eye and scrunched in agony.

He grabbed each of her limbs again and this time, he succeeded in his evil plan. He didn't kill her, deciding that he'd make her suffer beforehand, but he snapped each limb's bone. She helplessly screeched in both agony and fear. He still didn't let her down. He grinned as he used several extra tentacles to hold her still while he used two tentacles to slowly bored a hole through the palms of both her hands. She started to cry. One eye let pure, clear tears escape from it, while the other let only blood-stained tears escape. It was like she was crying blood instead of water. No matter how strong you were, nobody would've been able to go through this without at least crying or _something_. She screamed for him to stop and let her go.

"If I kill you now, I won't be able to enjoy myself with you later on." Yanuzui said. He used all his tentacles to smash the poor girl into the ground. The pressure of this forced her left femur to break through her pelvis, causing even more severe internal bleeding. He heard a siren and he soon after saw red, flashing lights. He chuckled and teleported to someplace else. His departing words were, "I'm done for now...".

A screech was heard as the first police car attempted to execute an immediate stop. The police officer quickly stepped out of the car and ran over to the victim laying on the ground, seemingly unconscious. He gently shook her shoulder. No movement or response. He called the other police officers and told them to get to Minazuki Park as soon as possible. He also ordered the arrival of another ambulance.

It only took a small matter of time for everyone to get to the horrid scene. Miyako was one of the first ones in. The police had set up the kind of tape used in crime scenes. The paramedics investigated Jeanne and told the worried officers that she most likely wouldn't make it; there was only a ten percent chance that she would. They said that she'd have to endure several surgeries. Miyako took notes of all this. She went to the others and asked if they had any idea of who would do this, even to Kaitou Jeanne. No one had a clue.

The paramedics set her gently on the gernie, just as they had with Sinbad, and loaded her into the vehicle. More sirens were heard when the vehicle was driving to the hospital for further treatment. They already hooked Jeanne up to an I.V. The police followed not too far behind.

The ambulance pulled into Nagoya Hospital after a few minutes of driving.

A/N:

Okay, so there's chapter two! Hope you enjoyed it! I have a good idea of what chapter three will b like, so no ideas 'til I run out, k? XD That'll be soon enough, don't worry! So anyways, please read and review! Have a nice day!


	3. Chapter 3

-Chapter 3-

The first thing Jeanne saw when she came to was blackness, but then, after awhile, light started shining through, making the blackness grayness. Cautiously she opened one eye. The brightness intensified into sheer brightness. She squinted just to see. After letting her first eye adjust to the change in light, she tried to open the other. Nothing happened. Her other eye was the one that had been slashed. Apparently it had taken some serious damage, more serious than she thought at least, because it was stitched shut and had a cotton patch over it. Right about now, she must look like a pirate. She looked around with her one good eye.

She was at a hospital. She was hooked up to I.V.s and other cord-like structures, including an oxygen tube. That's right. Not mask, tube. There was a machine breathing for her. Meaning she couldn't breathe herself. That meant she was in much worse condition than she first thought. What had happened to her? How had she gotten here? Where did the demon go? Yanuzui, that was his name, wasn't it? All her limbs were in casts, like something you'd see only in a cartoon. There was also a salt solution in a bag hanging diagonally from her head. She felt soreness and pain all over her body. Especially around her lungs and the area below her stomach.

A nurse came in before Jeanne had enough time to completely analyze her situation and condition. A doctor soon followed. Noticing that Jeanne was awake, they walked over to her.

"Do you feel any pain?" the nurse asked.

Jeanne rolled the eye that was open. The last thing she needed was doctors and nurses...

The doctor slowly and carefully pulled the oxygen tube from Jeanne's throat. Immediately Jeanne felt a pretty decent amount of pressure being put on her lungs and diaphragm. There was a whooshing sound as she sucked air in on her own for the first time in...how long had she been here again? She grunted, seeing if her vocal cords still worked and hoping she hadn't gone mute. Nope. She could still speak. At least that was good... As for the rest of her, not so much, as she was to soon find out.

"We have some...disturbing...news to tell you." the female doctor said, gloom lingering in the room now. "After looking over an x-ray of your uterus, I have to unpleasantry of telling you that you are unable, from now on, to have children. You had somehow been pierced right through it. The resulting damage was too much."

Jeanne was horrified. Unable to have kids? That was like saying she wasn't a girl anymore! How could this have happened? Wait...of course. Yanuzui the demon. He'd pierced her stomach, or so she thought. He'd probably meant to do that, but missed and instead pierced her womb. He'd pay dearly for that...once she got out of here, anyway.

"Not just that, but the damage wasn't just contained to that one part of your body. However, you sustained severe internal bleeding, which could've taken your life. In fact, if the ambulance hadn't gotten to you when it did, you'd be dead by now. On top of that, you had your chance of survival lowered greatly by a break in your hip bone. Your femur broke through the bone somehow and ruptured your liver. Luckily, though, your liver wasn't damaged enough to cause too much harm to you. In fact, your liver has already healed. But you may not be able to move any of your joints for some time." she continued.

All Jeanne could do was stay put and let everything soak in. It was horrible, what Yanuzui had done to her. She could've died!

"Each of your limbs was broken by the time the ambulance got to you. Luckily, your spine and nervous system are okay and were only very slightly harmed. However, the damage doesn't stop there. You sustained a huge, gaping gash in your stomach. It literally tore your stomach muscles and your stomach itself. But we've taken care of this problem, so you don't need to worry. Just don't eat anything greasy or solid for awhile, to give it time to completely heal. Your hands were pierced as well. But no major bones were hit, and as a result they should be completely healed by next month at least. And you also have seven broken ribs. One of them pierced your right lung. Luckily, though, it avoided tearing it. We've also taken care of your lung. There was extremely minor damage to the brain. You simply popped a few capillaries. They'll be healed in no time. The rest is small stuff. Cuts here, scrapes there, nothing too serious. But I do want you to know that use of your hands may be difficult even when they _are_ healed. One of the reasons is your finger. Something happened to it and it was crushed. You may never again regain full use of it."

The nurse bent down and whispered something into the doctor's ear.

The doctor turned her attention away from the nurse and back to Jeanne. "And I forgot to mention your eye. I don't know quite what you went through, but your eye was torn right through the middle. I've never seen anything like it, to be honest. There's a ninety percent chance of you being blind for life in that eye. We don't know for sure yet, but when it heals, we'll all find out."

Jeanne was just about in tears. Why did all this have to happen to _her_? She was a good person who served God! And then to be told all this at once... It was just too much! Out of character, she asked where Yanuzui was at.

"Yanuzui?" the nurse asked. "Who is that?"

The doctor got up and left, followed by the nurse. Jeanne heard voices outside the door. The doctor came back in and unbandaged Jeanne's other eye. She gently took out the stitches and told Jeanne to keep that eye closed for a few minutes.

"You have a special visitor, Kaitou Jeanne." the nurse kindly said. With this comment she opened the door to reveal this "special mystery visitor".

It was Kaitou Sinbad.

Hoarsely, she asked, "What are you doing here? Why aren't you in jail yet?"

When the nurse left, he answered her. "I broke out. I got injured as well, but your injuries were so serious, you got knocked into a coma. Mine are all healed up. Yours aren't I see."

"How'd you get in? They only let family in, don't they?"

"Easy. I convinced them I was your boyfriend."

Anger rushed through Jeanne's veins. "But you aren't my boyfriend! I don't have a boyfriend!"

"They don't know that."

This was all Yanuzui's doing! The sooner he was sealed, the better off she would be. She forced herself to sit up, ripping off the electrodes that were attached to her body and that were monitoring every heartbeat. It wasn't an easy task when you just got off life support... She wobbled around, placing a concerned look on Sinbad's face. She rolled off the bed by accident.

A nurse came running. When she saw her on the ground, she immediately knew what had happened. "Ah, Kaitou Jeanne... You're so stubborn." She conveniently was carrying a wheelchair with her. She set it up and helped Jeanne into it. With every limb in a cast, it wasn't going to be easy to move around. She had to have someone help her. As soon as Jeanne was in the wheelchair, the nurse left to leave her and her "boyfriend" alone together.

"Boy, Sinbad..." she looked up at him disdainfully. "You must be so proud of yourself right now. Did you come here to gloat or brag?"

Taken off guard by this comment, he had only moments to reply back. "What are you talking about?"

"LOOK AT ME!" she screamed. "That was you who sent the demon, wasn't it? Well, look what he did to me. You've sent the right one to do the right job. Go on and brag, but next time will be different. I'll kill the demon, not just seal him. And you're going to watch. And when I do kill him, it'll be _me_ who's bragging."

"Woah, woah, woah! You think I came here to _brag_? And you think _I_ sent the demon? I'm not in cahoots with the devil! I keep telling you that! I came here only because I got concerned about your health! I've been visiting every day since you got here!" he yelled in his defense.

Jeanne continued to glare at him. "And I suppose you could give me _one_ good reason why I should trust _you_?"

He reached around to the back of his head and itched it. What could he say to answer that? Was he supposed to say, "Yeah, I'm Chiaki and I've always known you were Maron."? Of course not! She'd have his head by the time he got started!

He heard Jeanne sigh and her breathing started to even out until it was a very steady breathing pattern. Was she sleeping? He tilted her face up a bit and: yes, she was sleeping. This whole event was no doubt very strenuous on her body. Deciding it was best to let her sleep, Sinbad gently kissed her forehead and walked out of the hospital room.

* * *

An entire three hours passed before a scream was heard coming from Jeanne's hospital room. Sinbad rushed into the room, and as he did, he rushed into chaos. The nurses were there futilely trying to calm a terrified Jeanne. One of them kept telling her it was the anesthetics that were making her delirious. But obviously Jeanne denied it. Others were holding her down as she struggled. Another was helping the first nurse try to calm her down.

_She sees something we can't..._ Sinbad thought, almost second-nature. "Hey, there's a patient in need of medical assistance in room 23! He's in critical condition! Please hurry! He'll need all of you! Please help him! Hurry!" he yelled to all the nurses. And it worked, too! Every single nurse dashed out of the room and started down the stairs to the said room. Good luck to them... That room was on the first floor!

Jeanne still cried. Something was frightening her. As to why she struggled and gave the nurses trouble was completely unknown. Immediately, Jeanne put her broken arms up, as though she was shielding herself from something. An invisible force soon pushed against her arms. She pushed back until the bed actually broke from the pressure put on it.

Sinbad strained to see what Jeanne saw, but couldn't find a single thing. He knew something was there, but what? Could it be the demon? If so, then this only meant he'd found her. And in turn, that meant she couldn't stay here in the hospital. If she did, she'd surely die.

Jeanne rolled over. She kicked her legs up and tried to do a flip. She succeeded and dodged just by the skin of her teeth. However, she couldn't really stick the landing. She could stand, but not easily. And her body was weak from all the surgery and treatment the doctors had given her, not to mention all the damage her body had taken. Already her breathing was getting heavy, yet she'd hardly done anything.

Sinbad, hardly thinking at the time, jumped over to grab Kaitou Jeanne. He leapt effortlessly out of the building and ran towards his friend's apartment. His friend had told him to watch the place and make sure it was kept tidy. It was the perfect cover-up since his friend was out of town for a few weeks. Something about his mom's business trip and no one to look after him.

* * *

At his friend's house, he had to clean while waiting for Jeanne to wake up. It had been an unfortunate turn of events for Kaitou Sinbad... First, he went to the hospital, then he got arrested as soon as he was healed, then he found out Jeanne had gone to the hospital in way more serious condition than you'd ever see on TV, then he had to break out of jail, then he went to see Jeanne only to find he had to kidnap her from the hospital! Why did this stuff always happen to _him_? There were plenty of other fellows out there who'd give their soul to be a mysterious Kaitou like himself. But noooooooo... It _had_ to be him! His thoughts and cleaning were interrupted by a small grunt.


	4. Chapter 4

-Chapter 4-

Sinbad looked over to where Jeanne was just waking up. Her unharmed eye opened and glanced at him. She obviously didn't want to move her body just yet. Sinbad assumed it was from all the pain he knew she had to be feeling right now.

"What happened, Sinbad? At the hospital, I mean," she asked.

The healed Kaitou sighed in relief; for a second there he thought she had amnesia. At least now he didn't have to worry about that. And at least now he could properly explain what happened, as far his knew.

"Well," he began, "I don't exactly know when you arrived at the hospital. By the time I learned you were still alive, I was in jail. I broke out to see if you were okay, and after learning which hospital you were at, I ran to see you. I convinced the nurses you were my girlfriend, and they believed me since we were both Kaitous. Once I walked into the room, there were at least four different nurses swarming you. They left only to let me have some time with you. Back then, you were almost always covered in blood. They said you were in such bad shape, you most likely wouldn't survive. They couldn't move you enough to clean you off, so they hooked you up to life support and hoped for the best. It was only after about a week that they told me you were in a coma."

He stopped, as if forcing unwanted memories to surface. Then he started again. "It was scary, actually. They told me your heart stopped beating four times, and they had to resuscitate you. More often than not, I would come to see you only to find your bed dripping in blood. The police never came by, to my knowledge. And then finally, by some miracle, you woke up from your coma."

"Why was I in a coma? And for how long?" she asked.

"The doctors said your injuries were so severe your body couldn't sustain itself alone. Whatever happened to you caused too much damage, and it threw you into a coma. As for how long, I'm not really sure. I just know it was a long wait for you to finally wake up," he answered.

Jeanne scowled at this new knowledge. Where did she go wrong? She always had a plan. She always sealed the demon. She never really got hurt. She always succeeded! What went wrong? And how? And WHY?

Stressed out, she pulled her arm up, and used her cast to make a lovely little indent in the couch Sinbad had set her on. No more resting. No more hiding. Yanuzui would _die_, and that was final. He wasn't going to die if she just sat here and waited to be destroyed.

She sat up and tried to stand, holding the edge of the couch for support. With casts on both her legs, it wasn't easy in the slightest and it took alot of effort just to stand up, let alone walk. Ignoring Sinbad's commands to stay put, she wobbled over toward the door and let herself out, slamming it shut behind her.

Kaitou Sinbad soon followed, grabbing her from behind and trying to stop her. Naturally, he had to tolerate her squirming and harsh will to be free. But this was Maron, only in a different form. She tried to act tough. But she had gotten herself in a very dangerous situation where she'd ended up getting hurt so badly it threatened her life. Her squirming wasn't going to help; she should know this.

He grew concerned when she started panting. She began to stop struggling as much. Either that, or she was beginning to weaken already. If that were the case, then her condition was more serious than expected. She wasn't supposed to be at his friend's house, she needed to be at the hospital. For now, though, he knew she had to tire herself out so she couldn't resist going back. After all, whatever had scared her at the hospital would surely be gone by now.

Jeanne was getting very weak. She already knew she wasn't at full strength yet, but she didn't know it would be this bad. Taking into account that the casts were heavier than they should be, she was wasting energy by trying to get away from Sinbad. But...she didn't want to get hurt. Sinbad was the one who summoned Yanuzui in the first place, so if she gave out here, she would die.

Her wounds that had been sewn back together reopened, and blood became quite visible through her hospital gown. She grunted in pain, but tried her best to shrug it off. She could tend to this later, when she was out of Sinbad's grasp. After that she would find and kill Yanuzui. Then she could see Fin, and tell her of her accomplishment.

Without knowing it, she opened the eye the nurse had told her to keep shut. She used this advantage to try to glare Sinbad down, a last-ditch effort to escape.

As soon as the stronger Kaitou saw Jeanne's injured eye, he couldn't help but let go of her. It was horrendous to find her eye without color, and with a long jagged scar running through her pupil, cornea, and iris. It was an eerily murky light grey. What they had told him had been true...Jeanne was blinded in that eye for life. Anything to her left she wouldn't be able to notice without turning her head so her other eye could see it. That eye in particular stared at nothing, it only moved with her other eye, the one that hadn't lost its vision.

There was no doubt in his mind she knew she was blind in that eye.

In a flash, or what seemed like a flash, Jeanne had made her way over to the stairs, which she was now attempting to walk down. It didn't take a genius to figure out what a bad idea this was. If she lost too much energy, she would pass out and fall down the stairs. It could break her neck.

Acting quickly, Sinbad took advantage of her blind eye and approach her left side silently, swiftly. She obviously didn't hear him.

He grabbed her again and this time, managed to avert his gaze from her eye. The demon that did this to her...it was far stronger than he could've ever anticipated. This creature was definitely too much for Jeanne to handle alone. Furthermore, it seemed to have an intent to kill her, not to possess someone. He knew this only because it had attacked her again in the hospital. But now that she was gone, so should the demon.

Kaitou Jeanne began to slide down, even though she was trying her best to hold herself up. The strain she was putting on herself was enormous. It was quickly draining her.

Eventually she felt dizzy and weak. The girl knew she was on the verge of fainting. She relaxed and felt Sinbad shift her onto his back. He was carrying her somewhere. Right now she didn't care what happened next. Her eyes wouldn't stay open for her, and slowly closed.

* * *

When she woke up, she was back at Nagoya Hospital, the hospital Chiaki's father owned. But at least this time she wasn't in the Intensive Care Unit. She had been assigned a regular hospital room, with only an IV connected to her.

A nurse came in and Jeanne looked over to see her.

The nurse noticed her eye. She quickly made her way over to Jeanne's bed and put one hand over her good eye. She then proceeded to wave her other hand over Jeanne's face. The injured eye didn't follow it. It showed no eye tracking movement whatsoever. The nurse turned Jeanne's head over toward the window, where the sun was shining in, while still keeping a hand over her good eye. The bad eye's pupil didn't retract. It showed no response to the light.

"I'm sorry to say, Kaitou Jeanne," she said as she removed her hand from the Kaitou's face, "but you will never be able to see with your left eye again."

"It's okay. I already know," Jeanne replied.

"Please try not to escape this time. I know you want to get out of here, but you aren't healthy enough yet. You still have a little ways to go before you can be running about again," the nurse told her as she walked out.

After eventless hours, she was almost ready to go back to sleep. Just staying awake too long was tiring. But she didn't get the chance to fall asleep; Sinbad walked in at that precise moment. Access was floating right beside him, looking innocent as usual.

She glowered. "Why are you here?"

Sinbad shrugged; Access floated above her head.

"I want to know what happened to you. What put you in this condition?" Access asked.

Jeanne noticed he was staring mainly at her blinded eye; that was probably what he really wanted to know about. Both of them knew her eye would slow her down when trying to seal a demon. Anything to her left wouldn't be seen unless she used her good eye to spot it. With Miyako on her trail, and the police keeping a constant eye out for trouble, she couldn't help but wonder what her next mission would be like.

Jeanne answered vaguely, her voice resembling a snake striking out at its prey. "Your demon."

Access looked over at Sinbad, who shrugged again. "She never really told me. She might not remember what happened; I don't really know."

Jeanne resisted the urge to growl. "Don't worry about my memory!"

"You remember?" her rival Kaitou asked.

"Of course I do, right down to the end!" she hissed back.

No doubt in her mind she remembered. That kind of pain wasn't the pain one would likely forget. Well, maybe she didn't actually remember the end of it...she just remembered hitting the ground with such force. And then there was nothing. She'd woken up to find herself at a hospital, not really knowing how she got there nor how long she'd been in there.

"Could you tell us what happened?" Access asked politely.

As much as she wanted to swat him, she restrained herself from doing so. They sent the demon, of course they would know! They were probably just teasing her, playing with her. Inside they were probably laughing at her for being so weak. Yes, the evasive yet legendary Kaitou Jeanne had failed to defeat a demon. Yes, the strong and unbeatable Kaitou Jeanne had been hospitalized. And yes, the strong yet graceful Kaitou Jeanne had been so badly injured she had been thrown into a coma. She had lost, and they knew it.

The pair had a serious and concerned look on their faces, as if they _actually_ cared what happened to her. It was a good thing she knew differently...

Egh... Whether they cared or not, it didn't change the fact that right now they had the upper hand. They knew she was weakened. They knew she didn't have enough energy to seal, let alone run away from, their viscous demon. It was Yanuzui's fault for what happened to her, but since they were the ones who summoned him, it was also their fault. That demon had been born to kill, and they had chosen just the right one for her death. But if they thought she was going to sit back and watch as she slowly approached her demise...they were dead wrong.

She smirked, confusing the other two. "I won't lose."


	5. Chapter 5

-Chapter 5-

Five weeks had passed; the casts were finally taken off and her wounds had almost healed entirely. Her eye's damage was permanent; it would never heal. Without her knowledge, Chiaki and Access had been on high alert, guarding the hospital Jeanne stayed at. But today was different, today she was to be set free. But first she had to take back her rosary and Kaitou garments. It would be better if she could go back to Maron instead of staying Jeanne forever. She would have alot of explaining to do once she got back in school...

Jeanne prepared to go outside for the first time in quite awhile. She tied her hair up the way it usually was when she transformed, two pigtails and one ponytail. She dressed in her now clean outfit. It was still ripped up here and there, but that would change once she was back to Maron. Then she took her rosary, waited until she got outside and out of view, and let her transformation fade away. Jeanne wasn't needed yet, but Maron would have to come up with an excuse for her incredibly long absence from school.

She stretched and took a deep breath, happy just to finally be out of that hospital.

"Maron!" a voice called to her once she was outside. It was Miyako.

"Hi, Miyako. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I heard Kaitou Jeanne was being released from this hospital today. But it looks like I got here too late..."

"I heard the same thing, that's why I'm here." Maron smiled and tried to look as innocent as possible.

It was then the unofficial detective noticed her friend's eye. "Woah... Maron, your eye..."

Instinctively, Maron looked to her left, as if looking in that direction would let her see her blind eye. "Oh, this... I fell into barbed wire and it cut my eye."

Ah, being a Kaitou had its advantages... One of them being making up believable excuses.

Miyako flinched in sympathy. "Sounds painful. You should probably get that looked at."

"Already did. They told me I was blind in this eye. They did all they could, but..." Maron allowed her voice to trail off, in hopes of dropping the subject. After all, the less she revealed, the better her secret would be kept hidden.

Miyako got closer to inspect her friend's eye. "Why is it all greyish? I mean, the scar I could understand, but why is the color different?"

"I don't know. I guess they put chemicals into it or something when they were trying to do surgery. It must've changed its color." Truth be told, she had no idea what made her eye turn grey, but they probably did put chemicals in to try to help it heal. Those chemicals might have destroyed her natural brown eye color in that one eye.

"That eye could be really useful in a haunted house," Miyako said, smiling.

Maron laughed. So long as she had one useable eye, she would be fine. It wasn't like she was completely blind. Now, if her other eye went, then it was panick time.

Before any more pointless chatter could continue, the ground shook violently. The girls tried their hardest to maintain their balance. It wasn't easy, and Maron fell down to all fours. Miyako would've helped her up if not for the task of keeping _herself_ up. Though it would probably be a better idea if she had just gotten on all fours like her friend did...seemed much more easier to not fall that way.

Before either of the two knew what was going on, a very recognizable, very distinguished form rose from he ground, patting off bits of dirt from its body.

"Hello, Kaitou Jeanne. Did you enjoy your stay?" a voice asked.

Miyako could not see Yanuzui, but heard his voice. She turned to see nothing. "Who's there?"

However, Maron could see him perfectly fine, as he only ever seemed to reveal himself to her. It tortured her to know what was to come, and that was why he did it. That was his reason, his source of joy.

"Miyako, run!" Maron commanded.

The girl hardly had the time to move before Maron pushed her forward. Miyako ran, just as her friend instructed. She didn't know where she was going, nor why she was running, but something had freaked Maron out. Anything that could freak _her_ out was meant to be dangerous.

Maron hid behind a tree to transform. Miyako was gone; she was safe. Now Maron had her own issues to attend. It was hard to see what Yanuzui was doing with her blind eye not allowing proper vision, but nonetheless she needed to fight. She transformed quickly and noticed that the demon hadn't seen her go behind the tree. He didn't know where she was; she had the element of surprise...

Jeanne slowly rose from her former crouching position, and moved closer to the edge of the tee. She couldn't afford the luxury of jumping into the branches for cover. With a blind eye and a demon nearby to hear the noise, she would lose her chances of evasiveness.

Slowly, Jeanne raised up her ribbon. Yanuzui turned around and she stood stiff. But...it wasn't her he was looking at...

"Kaitou Sinbad has arrived." It was Sinbad, along with Access.

Great...now Yanuzui had a better chance of finding her since Sinbad had chosen to appear behind her, on top of the hospital's rooftop! WHY? WHAT THE HECK, SINBAD?

Jeanne searched carefully for a new hiding place. Being stealthy could mean the difference between life or death in this situation.

"You... Where is Kaitou Jeanne?" Yanuzui asked flatly.

"How would I know something like that?" he replied. He grabbed a knife from somewhere inside his overcoat and threw it at the demon. Naturally, it was unfazed. Only Jeanne could properly seal these kinds of demons... Sinbad no longer had that ability.

The demon struck out quickly, knocking Sinbad off the roof and quite a few meters away.

Jeanne finally realized that the demon had been bluffing about his inability to find her. One of his tentacles wrapped around her leg. Her eyes widened greatly, and he teleported, taking her with him.

* * *

Now at Minazuki Park, Jeanne was terrified when she saw he had brought her back to the same place he'd beaten her last time. She was standing right in the middle of the spot where she had been smashed into the ground. She knew this because under her feet was a reddish-brown stain. Her blood.

The tentacle that had been around her leg now pulled her up to eye level with Yanuzui. The evil being laughed, sending shivers down the Kaitou's spine.

"I didn't think the great _Kaitou Jeanne_ would be so easy to beat! Now it seems you've been blinded in one eye. How inconvenient for you..." Yanuzui smirked and threw her high up into the air.

He didn't let her hit the ground. This action was intended only to scare her, to show her he held her life in his hands. He caught her by the same leg. The girl was shaking from fright. He moved her closer to his face, still grinning. Jeanne yelped in fear.

"It's good to fear me. You're smarter than I thought."

"Let me go!" she demanded.

Yanuzui laughed heartily, as if she was trying to tell a joke.

"Please; do you really think you'll survive? I _let_ you survive, you didn't live on your own. You are weak, Jeanne. It amazes me that you have gained such an admirable title as a Kaitou," he teased.

Blood was starting to rush to her head, and the demon seemed to know this. He didn't want her to pass out and miss what he would put her through. She would suffer greatly, and she knew it. And he would make sure of it.

He flung her effortlessly into the fountain, the center of the park. Nobody seemed to be in the park; nobody could help her. "This is pathetic. I expected so much more out of you."

Clutching her upper arm, the part of her that had been dealt the most damage, she stood up and lifted her ribbon.

Yanuzui used a tentacle to knock it out of her hand and fling it somewhere out of sight. She was defenseless, just as it had been last time. Thankfully she wasn't one to easily give up.

When he lashed out with two more tentacles, she jumped to avoid them...jumped right into a trap. Three tentacles above her slammed her hard onto the bottom of the fountain, which broke under the pressure put on it.

She couldn't win this fight without her ribbon; would it be better to run away for now? No...she couldn't. If she did, she might never find this demon again.

The water that poured out of the fountain was dyed dark pink. Already there was bloodshed. Jeanne could feel herself fading, almost as if she was in a video game as taking massive damage.

The Kaitou stayed still, thinking if he thought she was dead he would lose interest in her. But she failed to take into account that he was a demon, and demons could see a person's life force. Surely hers was draining.

A slim tentacle wrapped itself around her waist and stood her upright.

"Now, Jeanne, fight!" Yanuzui commanded.

Oh, she would fight alright. She had no other choice.

Yanuzui touched her and transported, forcing both of them at an old but huge barn at the far side of town. If she got hurt here...then the nearest hospital, and the only one with her medical records, was dead in the center of the city, and that had to be miles away.

"Jeanne, I issue a challenge. As you can see, you have the perfect setup in this barn. There are so many places you can jump on and hide from me. Try to kill me, Jeanne," the demon said.

With pleasure... But...with this arm, and with her whole front in severe pain, plus a blind eye...it might be impossible.

In short, this fight ended badly for Jeanne.

Throwing, screaming, panicking, slashing, slamming, exhaustion, and no breaks took place in that barn.

After it was all over, the demon left, laughing. All that was to show for Jeanne's desperate fight was blood smeared on the walls. Red painted the ceiling. Her body was unconsciously dangling from a broken board on the side of the barn. Her shirt was the only thing holding her up, and it ripped.

* * *

The police were all over that barn in a matter of minutes, as was an ambulance. And as an added bonus, Sinbad was there, watching her being lifted carefully onto a stretcher. She looked even worse than she did before.

Sirens screamed as the ambulance and police made their way to Nagoya hospital. It was clear to even the most dense person that Jeanne was running out of time, and fast.

* * *

At the hospital, everyone, including the police, waited patiently for the nurses and the doctors to run her through an MRI of her whole body and then to rush her into a room to get her fixed up to two handfuls of different machines.

When they were finally allowed in, they saw just how serious this was. Jeanne wasn't in any clothing, she lay naked under the blankets. A tube was not in her mouth. The doctors had bored a hole into her throat, right under her voicebox, and pushed a tube into it so the machine could get oxygen in more easily. Her eyes were closed and she wasn't responding to any noise or touch. She was literally out cold, but for some miraculous reason, she wasn't in a coma. She was covered head to toe in bandages. Thankfully there wasn't a bandage on her good eye. But under probably most of those bandages were stitches.

Yanuzui had really outdone himself this time.


End file.
